THE RESIDENCY GARDEN
Among the beauties of Kashmir the Residency Garden must surely not be
omitted. The Maharaja has provided for the Residency one of the most
charming houses in India--a regular English country-house. And
successive Residents, in my case aided by Mr. Harrison and Major
Wigram, have striven to make the garden worthy of the country and the
house. Here grows in perfection every English flower. The wide lawns
are as soft and green as any English lawn. All the English
fruits--pears, apples, peaches, apricots, plums, greengages, cherries,
walnuts, mulberries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and
strawberries--grow to perfection and in prodigious quantities; and the
magnificent chenar and innumerable birds add a special charm of their
own.
Perhaps a record of the cycle of the birds and flowers will give an
idea not only of the beauties of the garden, but of the climate of the
valley.
Early in March the garden beauties begin to develop. The turf is then
still quite brown and the trees leafless, but on March 8th, when I
returned to Srinagar this year, violets, pansies, wall-flowers,
narcissus, crocuses, and daisies were all in flower. Daffodils,
hyacinths, stock and a few carnations were in bud. Columbine and
larkspur leaves were sprouting. Peas and broad beans sown in November
were a few inches high. And of the trees, willow leaf-buds were just
bursting and showing a tinge of fresh light yellow green, and one
apricot tree was nearly bursting into blossom. Of birds there were
thrushes, minas, bulbuls, sparrows, crows, kites, blue-tits, hoopoes,
and starlings; and of butterflies, a few tortoise-shell and
cabbage-whites.
The maximum temperature in the shade was 55 deg. and in the sun 104
deg., and the minimum temperature was 31 deg.
On March 17th the willow trees had acquired a distinct tinge of green,
as also had the grass. Wild hyacinths (blue-bells) and yellow crocuses
were well out. The maximum temperature was 68 deg. in the shade and
110 deg. in the sun, and the minimum was 32 deg.
[Illustration: THE RESIDENCY AND CLUB, SRINAGAR]
On the same day in the previous year the maximum was 56 deg. and the
minimum 35 deg., and four days later there was snow.
By March 20th the apricot blossoms were in full bloom. Willow trees
were in half-leaf. Garden hyacinths, daffodils, Crown Imperials, and
English primroses were just beginning to bloom; and greengages were in
blossom.
By the end of March the maximum temperature had reached 75 deg. in the
shade and 125 deg. in the sun, while the minimum stood at 40 deg. This,
however, was an exceptionally warm March.
By April 1st the garden was exquisitely beautiful. The willows were
now well out, and in all the charm of fresh young spring foliage.
Apricots and peach trees formed little clouds of delicate pink and
white dotted lightly over the garden, and not too dense to hide the
glories of the snowy mountains in the background. The tall pear trees
were nearly in full bloom. A few of the pinky-white apple blossoms
were just appearing. The May leaves were showing a tinge of green.
Chenar leaves were just appearing. The mulberry leaf-buds were
beginning to burst. Catkins were hanging from the poplars. Rose
leaves were fully out. The grass had nearly turned from brown to
green. Iris buds were showing a tinge of purple. Hyacinths were well
out, and Crown Imperials and daffodils in full bloom.
On April 3rd the first of the pretty little wild tulips striped white
and pink appeared, and on the following day the first of the large
dark purple irises and two or three large white irises came into
bloom. Heavy rain fell, and on the 5th the grass was entirely green.
On that day the pears were in full blossom. Two of the magnificent
scarlet Kashmir tulips, which are a joy to any garden, came into
blossom, and two English tulips also came out. Rose-buds were
beginning to form. The maximum temperature was 59 deg. and the minimum
42 deg. On April 7th the first columbine came into bloom, and on the
9th the first shrike appeared.
Now followed a deluge of rain. On the 12th 2-1/2 inches fell. By the
morning of the 13th 14.65 inches had fallen since January 1st, in
comparison with a normal fall of 10.6 inches. And, most unexpected of
all, on the night of 12th-13th snow fell! The maximum temperature was
only 50 deg. and the minimum 33 deg. In a single night all the lovely
delicate peach blossoms, the crowning glory of the Kashmir spring,
were withered up, and for the moment we seemed plunged back once more
to winter.
But April 15th was one of Kashmir's most lovely days. The poplars were
now in fresh light foliage. May was in full leaf. Irises were
plentiful. Several columbines were in bloom. Both the Kashmir and
English tulips were well out; and the strawberries were in blossom. On
this day, too, I saw a flight of green parrots with long yellow tails
in the garden.
The first rose bloomed on April 17th, a white climber whose name I do
not know, growing on the south verandah. Last year the first did not
appear till the 26th.
May came into bloom on April 24th, and on the 25th a scarlet poppy and
a white peony blossomed. For some days then the weather had been
exceptionally warm, the maximum rising to 80 deg. in the shade and 129
deg. in the sun, and the minimum to 51 deg.
The first golden oriole appeared on the 26th--exactly the same date as
that on which it appeared last year. The golden orioles have a
glorious deep liquid note which thrills through the whole garden. Two
or three pairs always settle there, and all day long their brilliant
yellow plumage is seen flashing from tree to tree.
Three days later another brilliant visitant appears, the paradise
fly-catcher. He has not the beautiful note of the golden oriole, nor
such striking plumage. But he has exceedingly graceful form and
movements. He has a very long, wavy, ribbony tail, like a paradise
bird, and the two or three pairs of them which yearly settle in the
garden may be seen at any hour undulating through the foliage or
darting swiftly out to catch their prey.
By May 1st the magnificent chenar trees were in full leaf. Mulberry,
horse-chestnut, and walnut were also well in leaf. The roses were
coming into bloom--numerous Marechal Neil, and a beautiful single pink
rose--the sinica anemone--a few of Fortune's yellow, and many
tea-roses. The May trees were in full blossom. The bank on the south
side of the garden was a mass of dark purple and white irises, and of
an evening when the sunlight glancing low along its length caused each
flower to stand out in separate state, became a blaze of glory.
Another beauty of this season were bushes of what is generally known
as Indian May, with long slender stalks bent gracefully downward like
a waterfall of snowy flowers. Stock was in full bloom. Pansies were
out in masses. Both the English and Kashmir lilac were in blossom, and
the columbines were in perfection. I had had out from Barr & Sons a
number of varieties, and the success was remarkable. The Kashmir soil
and climate seem to suit columbines, and varieties from every part of
the world, deep purple, light mauve, white, mauve and white, pink and
red of many different graceful forms, came up luxuriantly. They were
one of the successes which gladden an amateur gardener's heart.
The maximum in the shade was 60 deg., in the sun 122 deg., and the
minimum 48 deg.
The first strawberries ripened a week later. The first horse-chestnuts
came into blossom on May 10th, and on that date the single pink rose,
sinica anemone, on the trellis at the end of the garden, was in full
bloom and of wondrous beauty; a summer-house covered with Fortune's
yellow was a dream of golden loveliness; I picked the first bloom of
some English roses which a kind friend had sent out, and which had
been planted in a special rose garden I had made for them--William
Shean, Mrs. Ed. Mauley, Mrs. W. J. Grant, and Carmine Pillar; and we
had our first plateful of strawberries.
A light mauve iris, a native of Kashmir, now came into bloom;
geraniums and some lovely varieties of Shirley poppy which I had
obtained from Mr. Luther Burbank, the famous plant-breeder of
California, began to blossom; and roses of every variety came rapidly
on till the garden became a blaze of colour.
The first of some remarkably beautiful delphiniums--some a deep blue,
some sky blue, and some opalescent--which I had also obtained from
Luther Burbank appeared in bloom on May 17th.
A spell of hot weather now set in, and on May 21st the maximum
temperature rose to 84 deg. in the shade and 134 deg. in the sun, and
the minimum to 54 deg.
[Illustration: THE TAKHT-I-SULIMAN, FROM THE RESIDENCY GARDEN]
By May 25th the roses were at their maximum of beauty. The
sweetly-scented and delicately-coloured La France roses were at
perfection. Rich bushes of General Jacqueminot, of John Hopper, of the
pink rose of Kashmir, and of many other kinds whose names I do not
know, formed great masses of colour against the soft green leaves and
the plentiful foliage of the chenar trees. William Alan Richardson
climbed over the trellises. The Shirley poppies gave every deep or
delicate shade of red and pink. Sweet-peas were in full bloom,
and of them also I had had a marvellous variety from England. Pinks
and carnations were coming rapidly on. A mauve and yellow iris had
appeared. Luther Burbank's delphiniums formed welcome patches of real
true blues in the herbaceous border round the lawn. The light and
graceful gypsophylis and phlox were in bloom; gladioli were just
coming out; and the horse-chestnut trees were all in gorgeous blossom.
Early in June the gladioli, Canterbury bells, pinks, sweet-williams,
and foxgloves were in full bloom, and the sweet-william especially
gave masses of beautiful and varied colour. The temperature now rose
to 88 deg. in the shade and 135 deg. in the sun, and the minimum to 54
deg. On June 10th, carnations, phlox, and Eschscholtzia were in full
bloom. And by June 15th, though many of the best roses had passed over
two beautiful climbers which I had obtained from home, Dorothy Perkins
and Lady Gay were in full blossom, and the delicate pink and graceful
form of the latter were especially lovely. Geraniums and fuschias were
now fully out, and masses of tall hollyhocks in many different shades
of colour were most effective. A few cannas and some lilies also came
into bloom.
By the end of June apricots were ripe. Petunias and dahlias were out,
and a few columbines still remained in bloom. The temperature had now
gone up to 94 deg. in the shade and 142 deg. in the sun, and the minimum
to 62 deg.; and early in July it rose to 97 deg. in the shade, which is
about as hot as it ever becomes in the valley.
On returning to Srinagar on September 7th I found the bed of scarlet
salvias giving brilliant patches of colour and most effectively
lighting up the garden. The autumn crop of roses was beginning, though
the blooms were not so fine as the spring crop. Geraniums, fuschias,
asters, cannas, zinnias, gallardia, and verbena were in abundance;
stock and phlox were still out, and the hibiscus bushes were in full
bloom. Burbank's delphiniums were also having a light second bloom.
The maximum in the shade was 81 deg. and in the sun 128 deg., and the
minimum 52 deg. The rainfall to date from January 1st was 27.4 inches
in comparison with a normal fall of 21.7 inches.
By the beginning of October last year cosmos was blooming luxuriantly.
Christmas roses were in full blossom, and the first chrysanthemum
appeared. During the month these blossomed in great beauty and became
the chief attraction in the garden. Towards the end of the month and
beginning of November the great chenar trees gradually assumed the
gorgeous autumn colouring. The Virginian creeper on the porch turned
to every rich hue of red and purple. Then the glories of the garden
slowly vanished away. The leaves fell from the trees. The frost turned
the turf brown. On December 1st there were still a few brave remnants
of the summer splendour--a few tea-roses, stocks, phlox, wallflower,
chrysanthemums, carnations, petunias, gallardia, nasturtiums, salvia,
snapdragons, and one or two violets. But the temperature was now 25 deg.
at night, and the maximum in the day only 54 deg., and these too soon
disappeared, and the only consolation left was the clearer view of the
mountains of which the absence of foliage on the trees allowed. Thus
ends the story of a garden's glory.